Israel issues second order for Palestinians to exit Rafah
ISRAEL ordered tens of thousands of Palestinians to evacuate Rafah yesterday, as it prepares to expand its military operation into the heavily-populated centre.
Rafah is considered the last refuge in Gaza and is sheltering half of the population – an estimated 1.4 million people.
The UN has warned a full-scale invasion of the southern city would cause a disastrous level of civilian casualties, while Joe Biden, the US president, has said he will not provide weapons to be used in the city.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has rejected pressure to resist attacking the city, saying that Hamas has based most of its top leaders and remaining forces there.
The Israeli army said rockets were launched yesterday from Rafah in southern Gaza towards the Kerem Shalom crossing, which it has seized.
“Four launches were identified that crossed from the Rafah area”, the military said in a statement.
Egypt, meanwhile, has refused to co-ordinate with Israel on the entry of aid into Gaza from the Rafah crossing because of Israel’s “unacceptable escalation”, Egypt’s state affiliated Alqahera News satellite TV reported.
The Israeli army issued its first evacuation order for parts of eastern Rafah on Monday, saying it was in preparation for a widely anticipated ground assault.
The evacuations are forcing people to move to expanded humanitarian zones or areas largely destroyed in the north.
“What should we do here? Do we wait until we all die on top of each other? So we’ve decided to leave. It’s better,” Hanan al-Satari, a Rafah resident, told the Associated Press.
However, many have already fled the humanitarian zones – which have been designated by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) – because of “horrific” conditions, according to aid workers.
“We have no tents, no blankets, none of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system,” said Georgios Petropoulos, an official with the UN humanitarian agency in Rafah.
The IDF said it was also moving into an area in northern Gaza, where it said Hamas had regrouped. Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army spokesman, told Palestinians in Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and surrounding areas to leave, warning Israel would strike with “great force”.